Refrigeration has long been recognized as a primary mechanism for maintaining the freshness of vegetables. The cool air of a refrigerator or refrigerated container slows the biological and chemical process of decay. Temperature control however is but one facet of maintaining vegetables fresh. Dehydration is a principle mechanism of deterioration in quality and taste of stored refrigerated vegetables. The cool air, which is relatively dry, readily absorbs the water that transpires from the vegetables. The root system for a plant continually replaces such lost moisture. Once vegetables are harvested from a plant, however, it is important to minimize the loss of moisture while keeping the vegetables cool in order to maintain freshness.
Efforts have been made to reduce the loss of moisture from fresh vegetables held in cool rooms or refrigerators. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,555 issued to Bishop et al discloses a vegetable crisper comprising a container for receiving vegetables and adapted to sprinkle water periodically from a supply onto the vegetables. The sprinkler is mounted centrally within the container on a lower floor and projects upwardly to a position beneath the lid. A recirculation system filters the water within the container.
While such vegetable crisper successfully increases the storage life of fresh vegetables held in a refrigerator, the centrally disposed sprinkler presents several problems that reduce the usefulness of the crisper. The sprinkler interferes with access by a user into the container to place or to retrieve a particular vegetable. The sprinkler also occupies space in the container, which would otherwise be available for holding vegetables. The centrally disposed sprinkler may prevent storage of large vegetables which often must be cut into smaller pieces to fit in the container. Such cutting exposes additional surface area of the vegetable to cool air which leads to increased fluid loss from the vegetable with resultant loss of freshness. Also, the centrally disposed sprinkler requires routing a fluid communication tube from a side of the container into the center. Placing and storing vegetables in the container could interfere with the tube and possibly prevent the sprinkler from functioning as desired. Finally, there is no provision for only single use of the fluid sprayed on the vegetables. The reservoir initially holds fresh fluid, but as the apparatus operates, sprayed fluid flows from the vegetables back into the reservoir. Although a filter is provided, it is desirable that such used fluid be collected separately for disposal, so that materials that may be dislodged from the vegetable are not carried into the fresh supply of fluid.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an apparatus for maintaining the freshness of vegetables while providing increased access thereto, for using space in the container more efficiently to hold vegetables, for reducing interference between the vegetables and the apparatus during use, and for collecting spray fluid separately for disposal.